Shaft-operating mechanism.



1.K1RBY, JR.

SHAFT OPERAIING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION man [1116.31, 1917.

1,265,277. Patented 11213714, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- Inventor 1. KIRBY, JR. SHAFT OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.31, 19H- 1 ,266,27?'. Patented May 14, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Am B lnva ntfir.

ED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JOHN KIBBY, JR., 0]? DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE DAYTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF DAYTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

SHAFT-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 14, 1918.

Application filed August 31, 1917. Serial No. 189,108.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN KIRBY, J12, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Shaft-Operating Mechanism, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of my specification.

My invention relates to mechanism for operating a shaft or drum upon which a chain, rope or cable is intended to be wound and more particularly to the type of such mechanism wherein the unwinding operation is ac complished independently of the operating lever, it being especially applicable to hand operated brakes on railway cars and similar uses.

The object of my invention is to provide mechanism of the character referred to wherein the shaft is rotated directly by its operating lever without the employment of springs or other intermediary elements, and to combine therewith a maximum of efficiency and durability together with a minimum number of parts and reduced cost of manufacture. To these ends the invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter more fully set forth and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings I have illustrated my invention as applied to the shaft of a hand brake for railway cars, and therein similar reference numerals indicate corresponding parts in all the figures thereof.

Figure 1 is a perspective view, partially in section, representing the shaft and its operating mechanism, together with the retaining device by which reverse movement of the shaft is prevented, the operating lever being shown by solid lines in its elevated or open ative position, and by broken lines in its normal or inoperative position, the dotted lines representing the position of the lever at the point where the connection with the toothed wheel is broken. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the retaining device and attach ments omitted, the operating lever being shown by solid lines in its normal or inoperative position, and by broken lines in its elevated or operative position. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of Fig. 1. Fig. 4: a top plan view of Fig. 2. Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are perspective views of the several parts detached, and Fig. 11 shows a modification of the toothed wheel.

1 represents the shaft around which the brake chain is to be wound, underneath the car platform. At the upper end of the shaft there is mounted thereon a toothed wheel 2, hereinafter referred to as wheel, which is secured to the shaft by means of a bolt 3 which passes through a neck 4, forming part of the wheel, and through the shaft, the bolt being retained in place by a nut 5, this bolt also serving to hold the wheel at its proper elevation on the shaft and to insure its rotation therewith. The wheel may, however, be formed integral with the shaft, but I have found it to be more expedient to form it in a separate piece; also, if desired the end of the shaft may be squared to receive the wheel, in which case the latter would be provided with a corresponding hole instead of a round hole shown.

In the peripheral surface of the wheel 2 there is formed a series of teeth 6 which are irregular in shape, the forward or driving surfaces thereof being slightly under-cut so as to form a locking connection to relieve the engaging member on the operating lever, presently to be described, from tendency to slip from its grip with the teeth during the forward or driving operation, while the formation of the opposite faces of the teeth is such as to permit the shaft to be rotated in the opposite direction when it becomes necessary or desirable in case the brake chain from any cause refuses to unwind freely. Below the wheel 2 there is mounted on the shaft a sleeve 7 which is capable of being freely rotated in either direction independently of any movement of the shaft and having members 8, 9 extending laterally at one side thereof and forming a space 10 therebetweeman opening 11 being formed in the wall of the sleeve opposite and in communication with said space. A hole 12 is formed through the members 8, 9 to receive a pivot-bolt 13 held therein by means of a nut 14:.

15 is the operating lever by which the shaft 1 and wheel 2 are rotated in unison; this lever is provided with a hole 16 by which it is mounted upon the pivot bolt 13 within the space 10, and in horizontal line with the bottom of a projecting lug 17 on the lever 15, and which lug, as the lever is raised, enters the opening 11 in the wall of the sleeve, its function being to transmit to the body of the sleeve a portion of the strain incident to the winding of the brake chain, thus relieving to a considerable extent the strain on members 8, 9 and increasing the efliciency and durability of the structure. At the top front end of the lever there is formed a tooth-like portion 18, corresponding in form and adapted to enter any of the spaces 19 formed by the teeth 6 for a purpose and in a manner presently to be explained.

Heretofore in mounting hand brake operating mechanism on railway ears the pracice has been to secure a ratchet wheel to the lower part of the shaft, at the floor of the platform and which operates in conjunction with a pawl, pivotally secured to the floor, to hold the shaft against reverse movement during the operation of setting the brakes, and thereafter until the pawl. is released by the foot of the operator, this mechanism being separate and apart from the brake operating mechanism at the upper end of the brake shaft. One of the objects of my present invention is to combine this ratchet and pawl mechanism with the brake operating mechanism at the top of the shaft, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 and described herein, and to that end I provide a bracket 20 having a boss 21 and a shaft member which latter encircles the shaft below and adjacent the sleeve T and serves to retain the sleeve in its proper relation to the wheel 2. A pawl 23 is pivotally mounted upon the bracket 20 by means of a bearing 2% screwed into or otherwise secured to the boss 21 and having ahead 25 for retaining the pawl in place thereon. The pawl is provided with a downwardly inclined projecting member 26 having a face 27 adapted to impinge against the adjacent face of one of the teeth 6 of the wheel 2 when the shaft is under tension and pressure on the operat ing lever is released, thereby holding the shaft against reverse movement during the winding operation and thereafter until the pawl is released, which release may be accomplished by taking hold of the free end 28 and raising the same until the inclined member 26 disengages the wheel, it being expedient to swing the pawl into an in0pera tive position as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. The pawl operates by gravity and the incline of its member 26 is so formed as to permit it to ride freely over the teeth during rotation of the shaft in a winding direction. The bracket 20 is provided with ears having holes 30 by which it may be secured to any suitable support.

in Fig. 11 l have shown a modified form of wheel wherein two sets of teeth are employed. the one adapted to cooperate with the pawl to hold the shaft against reverse movement being located above the teeth with which the lever engages to rotate the shaft and separated therefrom by a wall 32, the pawl being and operating substantially the same in both cases.

In the use of my present invention, as shown in Fig. 2, not involving the employment of the above described gravity operated pawl mechanism, a collar 31 is pinned or otherwise secured on the shaft below and adjacent the sleeve 7 to hold the latter in proper relation to the wheel Any suitable bracket may be employed for supporting the shaft from the side or end wall of the car.

To operate the foregoing described Winding mechanism the operator takes hold of the lever 15 and swings it up on its pivot from its normal position, shown by solid lines in Fig. 2, to its operative position as shown by solid lines in Fig. 1, during which operation its tooth-like portion 18 automatically enters one of the spaces 19 formed by the teeth 6, and thereby establishes operative connection with the shaft whereby in moving the lever in one direction the shaft will be rotated and the brake chain wound therez'iround; when this operation is carried to a point where a new stroke is required the connection is broken by lowering the lever until its tooth-like portion clears the teeth of the wheel, as indicated by the dot ted lines X in Fig. l, and while in this posit-ion the lever is returned to its starting point when it is again raised and connection with the shaft thereby reestablished, these operations being continued until the brakes are fully set, when the lever allowed to drop to its normal or inoperative position, the brakes being released by releasing the pawl mechanism as hereinbefore explained.

it sometimes happens that when the brakes are set and the pawl and ratchet mechanism released, the shaft refuses to unwind because of the chain becoming kinked; in such cases it becomes necessary to use force to free the chain and allow the shaft to perform its proper function, and in this particular my improvement is of especial advantage as the operative connection between the shaft and the lever is such as to permit of operation in either or both directions.

By the term wheel as used herein I mean a circular member or disk secured to the shaft and having notches or teeth adapted to cooperate with a corresponding part of the operating lever so that when the lever is in its operative position these parts will engage.

each other and establish operative connection between the shaft and the sleeve whereby the shaft will be rotated by movement of the lever in either direction without the employm nt of any intermediary element.

1 am aware of patents to lVilling, Christensen and McLean, 726,129, April 21, 1903; Tell-antler 1322,4715, April 9, 1912; Cameron 1,100,352, June 16, 1914:; Brown (Reissue) 13,965, August- 24, 1915; Yost and Dorey 1,17 7 ,67 2, April 4, 1916, and Webb and Walton 1,183,053 and do not wish to be understood as claiming anything disclosed in either of said patents. I

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In winding mechanism of the character described, the combination of a shaft, a toothed wheel carried by and rotatable with the shaft, a sleeve loosely mounted on the shaft below said wheel, and an operating lever having pivotal connection with the sleeve, said lever being provided with means for separate engagement with said wheel and the body of said sleeve whereby the shaft may be rotated.

12. In a device of the character described, the combination of a shaft adapted to be rotated, a toothed wheel carried by the shaft and rotatable therewith, a sleeve mounted on the shaft below said wheel and rotatable on the shaft independently thereof, an operating leverpivotally connected to the sleeve, and means whereby said lever may be brought into operative engagement with said wheel and the body of said sleeve to operate the shaft, substantially as described.

3. In winding mechanism of the character described, the combination of a shaft, a wheel fixed thereon provided with a series of irregular shaped teeth whose driving faces are slightly undercut to establish a locking engagement with their co-acting member, a sleeve loosely mounted on and rotatable independently of the shaft below said wheel, lugs extending laterally from said sleeve, an operating lever having pivotal connection with said lugs; said lever being provided with means for separate engagement with said wheel and the body of said sleeve, whereby the shaft may be rotated.

1. In combination with a shaft adapted to be rotated and having a toothed wheel secured thereon, of a sleeve loosely mounted on and rotatable independently of the shaft, an operating lever in pivotal connection with the sleeve and having an elevated operative position and a depending normal position; said lever having a part arranged to engage said wheel and a separate part arranged to engage the body of said sleeve, whereby dual operative connection is established between the lever and the shaft.

5. In combination with a rotatable shaft, a toothed wheel carried by and rotatable with the shaft, a member loosely mounted on the shaft, an opening in the wall of said member, an operating lever carried by said member nd normally occupying a suspended position but movable in a vertical plane independently of said member, means formed on the lever for establishin direct operative connection with said whee and a lug projecting from said lever adapted to engage said opening'and establish operative connection between the lever and the body of said member.

6. In combination with a rotatable shaft, a toothed wheel carried by and rotatable with the shaft, a sleeve loosely mounted on v the shaft and having a pair of members extending laterally therefrom, an operating leve plvotally mounted on and between said members and normally suspended upon its pivot, and separate means carried by said lever adapted to engage said wheel and the body of said sleeve, thereby establishing dual operative connection between said parts whereby the shaft may be rotated.

7. In combination with a rotatable brakeshaft, a toothed wheel carried by and rotatable with the shaft, a sleeve rotatable on and independently of the shaft and having members extending laterally therefrom, an opening in the wall of the sleeve, an operating lever pivotally mounted on and between said members and normally suspended upon its pivot, said lever having means for engaging said wheel and separate means adapted to enter the said opening and engage the wall of said sleeve as the lever is raised; thereby transmitting to the body of the sleeve a portion of the strain incident to the operation of setting the brakes.

8. In brake mechanism, the combination of a shaft, a toothed wheel carried by and rotatable with the shaft, a sleeve loosely mounted on the shaft below said wheel, an operating lever having pivotal connection with the sleeve; said lever being provided with means for separate engagement with said wheel and the body of said sleeve whereby the shaft may be rotated, a bracket whose lower portion surrounds the shaft below said sleeve to retain the sleeve in osition on the shaft and mechanism carried by said bracket adapted to cotiperate with the wheel carried by the shaft to hold the latter against reverse movement during the winding operation and thereafter until the said mechanism is released.

9. In combination with a rotatable shaft, a toothed wheel carried by the shaft, a sleeve mounted on the shaft and adapted to rotate thereon independently thereof, members extending laterally from the sleeve, an opening in the wall of the sleeve between said members, an operating lever in pivotal connection with said members and normally suspended upon its pivot, the lever being provided with an extended portion adapted to enter said opening as the lever is raised, the lever being also adapted when in a raised position to engage said wheel and thereby establish dual operative connection with the shaft whereby the same may be rotated,

means for retaining the sleeve in position on the shaft and a gravity actuated pawl cooperating with said Wheel to hold the shaft against lGYerSe movement during the Winding operation and thereafter until the pawl is released.

10. In combination with a rotatable shaft, a Wheel carried. by and rotatable with the shaft, a sleeve mounted on the shaft and adapted to be rotated thereon independently of the Shaft, an opening in the Wall of the sleeve, an operating lever pivotally mounted on the sleeve and normally suspended on its pivot, the said lever being adapted when in neeaevv a raised position to engage said Wheel and thereby establish operative connection With the shaft whereby the same may be rotated, a projection on the lever adapted to enter said opening, a device for retaining the sleeve in position on the shaft. and mecha nism cooperating with the Wheel to hold the shat" against reverse movement during the winding operation and thereafter until said mechanism is released.

JOHN KIRBY, JR. Witnesses HQD. Hnmmron, NonnAN JONES.

Copies of the patent may be obtained for'five cents each. by addressingthe Commissioner of ?atents. Washington, 3. 53. 

